Black_Paladyn
patreon
Last of The Fae Chapter 25: Midnight Duel
🕑 Added 2024-08-18 12:59:39 +0000 UTC“There he is!” Ron exclaimed as he turned around to face Thane who stopped in the archway of the trophy room as his eyes panned across the four faces who stared back at him with a range of expressions.
“Thane I tried to stop him but the idiot won’t listen!” Hermione exclaimed as she took a step forward.
“I-I just got locked out of the dorm and didn’t want to be left alone,” Neville spoke up as well and flashed Thane a nervous smile, “T-thanks for getting my Remembrall back from Draco by the way.”
“Your welcome, Longbottom. But I just wanted to look at the enchantments, Harry is the one who deserves your praise,” Thane replied as he glanced at the boy with the lightning bolt shaped scar who looked both conflicted and confused about the entire situation.
“Stop acting like you’re some saint!” Ron snarled as he took a few menacing steps forward, “You’re a cold blooded bastard just like the rest of Slytherin muggle born or not. Now draw your wand!”
Thane rolled his eyes, “It’s the dead of night and I have a heavy course load tomorrow, must we do this?”
“Yes!” Ron exclaimed as he whipped out his wand, “Now stop stalling and fight me!”
“Very well,” Thane said with exhausted sigh as he unsheathed his spellblade and sunk into the combat stance hammered into him by Elara, “On your signal.”
Ron swallowed hard as his wand wavered in his unsteady hand, “O-okay on three…1…2…”
Before Ron could reach the end of his countdown a warm yellow light appeared around the corner as a crotchety voice echoed through the vaulted room, “Come on Mrs. Norris I know those kids are around here somewhere.”
“I-It’s Filch, we’re done for!” Neville stammered as everyone glanced at the rapidly approaching light and the slight jingle of a pet collar.
Turning on his heel Thane moved to flee when he felt a familiar presence pass through the air. The sensation directed his eyes to a seemingly inconspicuous patch of wall only for the stone to shift and ripple revealing a hidden passage, “Everyone follow me.”
Not bothering to check if anyone had heard him, Thane broke out into a sprint dashing into the passage all while muttering a quick prayer to his invisible savior. Looking behind him as he reached the mouth of the passage Thane had to dash forward in order to avoid being bowled over by Neville who rushed into the tunnel quickly followed by Hermione, Harry and Ron.
The moment everyone was inside the opening disappeared as the stones slid back into place eliminating the little light that had illuminated the passage.
“Quick someone cast a light charm,” Ron’s voice echoed in the darkness amongst labored breathing.
“I’ll try but it’s going to be hard without being able to see my wand, Lu-” Before Hermione could complete her incantations a wave of silver light flooded the tunnel as Thane opened his hand revealing five orbs of light that moved to hover around each person present.
“Oh,” Hermione replied as she tucked away her wand and stared at the orb hovering above her shoulder, “Thank’s Thane.”
“W-where are we?” Neville asked nervously as he stared at the darkness beyond the reach of Thane’s silver light
“Inside the castle,” Thane replied as he moved to the front of the group and started walking down the passage, “Come on, let’s find a way out of here.”
“We’re not going anywhere with you!” Ron exclaimed as he swatted at the orb of light which effortlessly avoided him, “Besides you still owe me a duel!”
“Not gonna happen Weasley, we were almost caught. Time to call it quits,” Thane called back without turning around or stopping
“Isn’t that convenient,” Ron spat back, “How did Filch even know we were going to be there in the first place?”
Thane froze mid stride before glancing over his shoulder at Ron, “Are you implying something Weasley?”
Ron smirked, “What need me to spell it out for you? You were too scared to duel me so you told Filch to stop the fight from happening. You talk a big game but deep down you’re a coward Thane just like the rest of your cold blooded house!”
Thane spun around and fixed Ron with a piercing stare, “You think I would be afraid of someone of your caliber? In every class we have together, you’re always last to finish the assigned task, you don’t have the slightest shred of self control, and an ego that belongs to a dictator. I have no reason to fear your Ron, in fact I never had a reason to hate you until you questioned my honor and reputation.”
Ron flinched back as if Thane had slapped him and his ears turned bright red, “You talk about honor but you’re the one who insulted my family first!”
“What are you talking about?!” Thane growled getting dangerously close to simply pulling out his spellblade and blasting Ron with very powerful stunning charm, “The only thing I said about your family was its unique situation despite being a pure blood family.”
“You’re doing it again!” Ron screamed back, “Stop dancing around the topic and just call me a beggar or a peasant! Money isn’t everything you know!”
For a moment Ron’s outburst went unanswered as a confused look passed across Thane’s face followed by a spark of realization before he reached up and pinched the bridge of his nose, “Just to clarify, the unique situation I’m talking about is your family’s long history of rejecting the notion of pure blood supremacy. Not the current financial state of your family which I would have no idea about after reading books about the early medieval era.”
Thane glanced at Ron whose expression had gone from righteous fury to looking like he wanted to crawl into a hole and die of embarrassment.
Thane let out a long defeated sigh as he turned back around and resumed walking at a brisk pace, “Fucking moron.”
Neville, Harry and Hermione all turned and stared at Ron, “ H-how was I supposed to know…he still attacked me!”
“Yeah, after you pointed your wand at his pet snake,” Hermione spat back as she brushed past Ron to catch up with Thane, “And he has a point, your ego was probably more bruised than your wrist.”
Walking down the passageway Thane grumbled underneath his breath about the time he was wasting when he could have been talking to Solara about the intersectionality of magic and arithmetic when he heard a series of hurried steps behind him.
“Thane…Thane wait!”
Slowing his pace Thane let Hermione catch up to him, as her chest was already heaving with labored breath, “Yes?”
“I want to apologize, I can’t help but feel that this is all my fault. I forced you to sit down with us when you didn’t want to and…” Hermione trailed off and after a brief pause Thane let out a sigh as he forcefully removed his much deserved frustration and annoyance.
“I don’t blame you, after all you had no way of knowing one of your house mates would be so idiotic,” Thane excused Hermione’s apology with a slight smile which she returned a hundredfold revealing two slightly larger front teeth, which combined with her mane of bushy hair reminded Thane of a beaver albeit a much cuter one.
---
Eventually after sometime the ambient mana in the air rippled as the end of the passage suddenly opened letting light other than Thane’s orbs flood into the tunnel.
“Thank god!” Neville practically screamed as he ran forward quickly passing Thane and Hermione as they moved aside, “I never thought I would get out of-”
Neville suddenly cut off as he peered out of the tunnel only to fall back on his ass with a choked squawk of surprise as fear flooded through his aura.
“Neville what’s wrong?” Hermione asked as she ran over to the boy prone on the floor only for him to grab onto her the sleeves of her robe as his head turned around revealing eyes wide with fear, “D-dogs! Three of them!”
“Jesus Neville it’s probably just some mangy mutt what’s the problem?” Ron asked as he strode past Hermione and Neville and stepped out of the tunnel only to turn to his left and stare at something out of view that made his eyes widen in shock, “Bloody hell!”
Ron’s exclamation rang through the air but it was quickly drowned out as the walls of the castle began to vibrate with a deep guttural growl.
Comments
Kheiven Dhaiti
I hope he owns hogwarts
